Ask a coach how much rankings matter in college football, and
they'll likely say they don't — if they even bother to answer you
at all.

That said, rankings are still fun, so Sporting News decided to
compile a list ranking all 130 FBS coaches. It's a summer rite of
passage with the same familiar name at the top: Alabama's Nick
Saban remains the standard, even for title-winning coaches in Dabo
Swinney, Urban Meyer and Jimbo Fisher.

How did we rank those 130 coaches? We look at career
accomplishments, factoring in what they've achieved in recent
years. When it got tight, we picked the coach we’d take in a
head-to-head matchup. It’s not a perfect science, but it’s
ours.

And don't worry, there aren't 130 slides to click through — but
we have to build the tension with a countdown. The Big Ten has six
top-25 coaches, followed by the SEC, Big 12 and Pac-12 with five
apiece. The ACC has three, with an independent coach rounding out
the group.

111. Mike Sanford Jr., Western Kentucky
(115)Record: 6-7Lowdown: The former Notre Dame offensive
coordinator broke in with a 6-7 record in his first season, but the
Hilltoppers were 5-1 before a late-season slide. Expect the
second-year coach to learn from those lessons. He'll move
up.

72. Mario Cristobal, Oregon (NR)Record: 27-48 (0-1) Lowdown: Oregon opted for continuity with
Cristobal, saving the Ducks valuable time in another coaching
search. Cristobal still needs to improve the recruiting of a
program looking to regain its spot in the upper tier of the
conference.

57. Bill Clark, UAB (125)Record: 14-11Lowdown: It wasn't just about bringing UAB
football back. Clark led the Blazers to arguably their best season
in program history, an 8-5 campaign that resulted in their
first bowl berth since 2004 — and all after a two-year
hiatus. UAB won four one-score games along the way. Clark kept
all that together in impressive fashion.

43. Lane Kiffin, Florida Atlantic (85)Record: 46-24 (11-3) Lowdown: Kiffin ranks third among Group of 5
coaches on this list, and he'll get a shot back at the Power 5
before all is said and done. The Owls are coming off an 11-win,
championship season in Conference USA. What will Kiffin do for an
encore?

28. Scott Frost, Nebraska (43)Record: You probably want Frost higher on this
list after he led UCF to an unbeaten 2017 season. His next
challenge is to resurrect alma mater Nebraska, one of college
football’s most storied programs, back to life. Give him time to do
that, and he'll be in the top 10 before you know it.

27. Kirk Ferentz, Iowa (25)
26. Bobby Petrino, Louisville (13)

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25. Kyle Whittingham, Utah

Last year: 20 (-5)Record: 111-56

Lowdown: Whittingham is a by-definition solid
coach who has kept the Utes on the national radar after moving up
to the Pac-12. He has only had two losing seasons as head coach,
but the expectations should be a little higher now. Utah can’t go
7-6 again in 2018 for Whittingham to stay here.

Lowdown: Fuente has reestablished stability in
Blacksburg, but the Hokies were 1-3 against ranked teams last
season — the only win coming against West Virginia in the
opener. The classic Miami-Virginia Tech rivalry will be
reinstalled in the ACC Coastal in 2018, and Virginia Tech
needs to win a few of those games.

Lowdown: Northwestern is coming off its third
10-win campaign in six seasons, including consecutive bowl
victories in 2016-17. The program also has some exciting new facilities. A lot of that credit belongs to
Fitzgerald, who has spurned other offers with the relentless drive
to build up his alma mater. The addition of Clemson transfer
quarterback Hunter Johnson will only elevate expectations in
Evanston.

Lowdown: Herman led Texas to a 7-6 record
and a bowl victory in his first season, a modest move in the right
direction for a program with great expectations for the future.
Herman has lived up to the hype on the recruiting trail, and that
could be the difference in those close games down the line (the
Longhorns had four one-score losses last season). They're closer to
contention than some critics think.

Lowdown: Mullen made the move from Mississippi
State to Florida, where the expectations will be higher at a proven
blue-blood program. Mullen had a winning record in seven of nine
seasons in Starkville, but won 10 games just once — a bad loss to
Ole Miss in 2017 kept the Bulldogs from meeting that threshold a
second time under Mullen. That 10-win bar will be part of the
ramped-up expectations now.

Lowdown: Snyder turns 79 in October, but
he hasn’t lost his touch with a program he has built through two
separate stints. The Wildcats have made eight consecutive bowl
appearances, including victories in the last two. That includes a
winning record in the Big 12.

Lowdown: Kelly is the hardest Power 5 coach to
rank. On one hand, he’s a proven winner at the college level whose
high-octane offense dominated the Pac-12 in his previous stint with
Oregon. On the other, we haven’t seen Kelly on a college sideline
since 2012. Will anything have changed during that five-year
layoff?

Lowdown: Helton’s no-nonsense approach has been
exactly what the Trojans have needed. He has led USC to a
Pac-12 championship and back-to-back New Year’s Day Six
appearances, but high-profile losses to Alabama and Ohio State
show the program what’s it’s going to take to break through
to the next level. A Playoff appearance is the next logical
step.

Lowdown: Kelly won 10 games at Notre Dame in
2017, but his is a job where big losses far outweigh big
wins (especially true in the College Football Playoff era). Notre
Dame finished 3-3 against ranked teams last year, but chances are
you remember those losses (Georgia, Miami, Stanford) a lot more
than the wins (N.C. State, USC, LSU).

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16. Lincoln Riley, Oklahoma

Last year: 45 (+29)Record: 12-2

Lowdown: This ranking might anger some Oklahoma
fans, given Riley displayed poise from the outset — which was
proven in an early-season victory at Ohio State in 2017. The
34-year-old coach is a brilliant play-caller coming off a Big 12
championship and Playoff appearance in his first season. We expect
him to crack the top 10 soon enough, but he'll have to do it
without Baker Mayfield at quarterback.

Lowdown: Gundy enters his 14th season in
Stillwater coming off a third 10-win season in four years. He has
been a target for SEC coach openings in recent seasons, but Gundy
has stayed the course at his alma mater. There’s an opportunity to
take that next step — the only nit-pick is, for all his
success, Gundy has led Oklahoma State to a 2-11 record against
rival Oklahoma.

Lowdown: In three seasons, Chryst has led
Wisconsin to three 10-win seasons, consecutive Big Ten
West titles and a 13-1 record in 2017 (the program's best
all-time). The reason he isn’t higher on this list: The
Badgers are 2-4 the last two years against those top four Big
Ten East coaches, including in the Big Ten championship game. Can
he lead the Badgers to victory against Michigan and Penn State in
crossover games this year?

Lowdown: You know the drill by now. Malzahn’s
stock fluctuates with each season, and that often depends on
whether Auburn wins the Iron Bowl. He’s one of three active coaches
with an SEC championship, and the Tigers were the best team in the
country at home last year, as evidenced by two wins against No. 1
ranked teams in Georgia and Alabama in a span of three weeks.
Problem is, they travel for those games in 2018.

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12. James Franklin, Penn State

Last year: 15 (+3)Record: 60-32 (36-17 at Penn State)

Lowdown: Franklin has built Penn State into a
legitimate College Football Playoff contender, and he’s recruiting
at an elite level. Why is he behind the other three Big Ten
East coaches? The Nittany Lions are 3-9 against Ohio State,
Michigan State and Michigan the last four years, including two
painful losses by a combined four points last year. Penn State has
to close in those games.

Lowdown: "But he hasn’t finished better than
third in the East!" We’ve dropped Harbaugh out of the top 10
to account for that easily recited criticism, but we could see him
jumping right back in after a prove-it year. It boils down to
beating Ohio State; when Michigan wins that game — one it hasn't
won since 2011 — those other criticisms go away. By the way,
Harbaugh is 4-4 against Michigan State, Penn State and Wisconsin.
That doesn’t get brought up as much. In other words, things aren’t
nearly as bad as they seem in Ann Arbor.

Lowdown: Shaw has won double-digit games in
five of seven seasons with the Cardinal. The program is always
in the hunt for a conference championship, but still hasn’t made
that breakthrough to the College Football Playoff. He continues to
churn out NFL talent, especially at the running back position. Look
for Shaw and star running back Bryce Love to keep the Cardinal in
contention again in 2018.

Lowdown: The Spartans bounced back on the field
with a 10-3 record in 2017, and Dantonio brings back one of his
most experienced and talented teams this year. He has won three Big
Ten titles, has a 7-3 record against Wolverines — a rivalry he
fully embraces as the Spartans' biggest game of the year — and
has proven the biggest challenge to Ohio State since his
arrival in 2007.

Lowdown: Patterson led TCU to an 11-3
record in 2017, his 11th season with 10 or more wins across
four conferences with the Horned Frogs. TCU is a trendy pick to win
the Big 12 this season, too. Patterson is under-appreciated, and it
shouldn't take a Playoff appearance to validate all his
success. If he does get the Horned Frogs there, it'll only
show just how great his run in Fort Worth has been.

Lowdown: Petersen is in the conversation
for "best coach without a national
championship" alongside Kirby Smart and Mark Richt. One of
only eight active coaches with a Playoff appearance, Petersen is
coming off his second consecutive season of at least 10 wins and
brings back a veteran team led by quarterback Jake Browning.
He’ll get a chance to prove it in the opener against Auburn, a
monumental contest for the entire Pac-12.

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6. Mark Richt, Miami

Last year: 9 (+3)Record: 164-58 (19-7 at Miami)

Lowdown: Forget about last
year's late-season slide. Richt put Miami back in
position to win the ACC championship in just his second year.
The recruiting will only get better, considering FSU and Florida
are programs in transition. This is an opportunity for Miami to
take over the state again — but that elusive ACC championship must
come first.

Lowdown: SN's 2017
Coach of the Year has a bright future in
Athens. Smart spent years learning under Nick Saban at
Alabama, and he's building a similar machine through recruiting at
Georgia, highlighted by an all-time great haul in
his 2018
signing class. The defending SEC champions will be a force
to be reckoned with — Smart promised as much in the aftermath of
last year’s title game loss to Alabama.

Lowdown: How often do you see a national
title-winning coach — only four active FBS coaches can make that
claim — take a job at another school? That's exactly what Fisher
did in leaving FSU for Texas A&M, a program with sky-high
expectations. We decided not to punish him on this list after his
team finished 5-6 last season: the Seminoles were bombarded by
injuries and it was evident both parties needed a change.
But he'll have to prove it all over again in the SEC West.

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3. Urban Meyer, Ohio State

Last year: 2 (-1)Record: 177-31 (73-8 at Ohio State)

Lowdown: Meyer led the Buckeyes to a second Big
Ten championship and a near-berth in the College Football Playoff
in 2017. Ohio State continues to cycle NFL talent through its
program, and is 6-0 against rival Michigan in the Urban era. The
Big Ten race still runs through Columbus, and Meyer is
building it all to last through recruiting. No Big Ten coach
handles the scrutiny of the national spotlight better than
him.

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2. Dabo Swinney, Clemson

Last year: 3 (+1)Record: 101-30

Lowdown: We bumped Swinney ahead of Ohio
State’s Urban Meyer, given his more recent national
title, three consecutive Playoff appearances and 2-0 record
against the Buckeyes coach. Clemson hasn’t lost more than two
conference games in a single season since 2011 under Swinney, and
it stands to reason his program will only get stronger. This
reminds us of the generational dominance Bobby Bowden once
achieved at FSU.

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1. Nick Saban, Alabama

Last year: 1Record: 223-63 (132-20 at Alabama)

Lowdown: You know the superlatives by
now: five titles in nine years at Alabama, plus another at
LSU. Saban again showed his brilliance in January, when —
trailing Georgia 13-0 at the half of the national title game —
he substituted freshman Tua Tagovailoa in for veteran
quarterback Jalen Hurts. How many coaches make that call?
Saban did, and it made the difference in a 26-23 overtime win.
Saban's Alabama teams have also won at least 10 games every year
since 2008. The scary part? Saban, who turns 67 on Halloween,
isn't showing any signs of slowing down.